Spallanzani found that a tadpole can regenerate its tail; and if a part
of the new tail is cut off, the remaining part will regenerate as much
as is lost. Older tadpoles regenerate more slowly than younger ones. If
a tadpole is not fed, it ceases to grow larger, but it will still
regenerate its tail if the tail is cut off.[6] Salamanders also
regenerate a new tail, producing even new vertebræ. If a leg is cut off,
it is regenerated; if all four legs are cut off, either at the same time
or in succession, they are renewed. If the leg is cut off near the body,
an imperfectly regenerated part is formed. Regeneration of the legs was
found to take place in all species of salamanders that were known to
Spallanzani, but best in young stages. In full-grown salamanders,
regeneration takes place more promptly in smaller species than in larger
ones. Curiously enough, it was found that if the fingers or toes are cut
off, they regenerate very slowly. If the fingers of one side and the
whole leg of the opposite side are cut off at the same time, the leg may
be regenerated as soon as are the fingers of the other side. A year is,
however, often insufficient in some forms for a leg to become fully
formed. If an animal is kept without food for two months after a leg has
been cut off, the new leg will regenerate as rapidly as in another
salamander that has been fed during this time. If the animal is kept
longer without food, it will decrease in size, but nevertheless the new
leg continues to grow larger. Occasionally more toes or fewer toes than
the normal number are regenerated; but as a rule the fore leg renews its
four toes, and the hind leg its five toes.
In one experiment, all four legs and the tail were cut off six times
during the three summer months, and were regenerated. Spallanzani
calculated that 647 new bones must have been made in the new parts. The
regeneration of the new limbs was as quickly carried out the last time
as the first. Spallanzani also found that the upper and lower jaws of
salamanders can regenerate.
If the tentacles of a snail or of a slug are cut off, they are renewed;
and Spallanzani found that even if the entire head is cut off a new one
is regenerated. Also other parts of the snail, as the foot, or the
collar, may be regenerated. The head of the slug, it was found,
regenerates with more difficulty than does that of the snail.
These justly celebrated experiments of Trembley, Réaumur, Bonnet, and
Spallanzani furnished the basis of all later work. Many new facts, it is
true, have been discovered, and in many cases we have penetrated further
into the conditions that influence the regeneration, but many of the
important facts in regard to regeneration were made known by the work of
these four naturalists.
_SOME FURTHER EXAMPLES OF REGENERATION_
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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